


The Death of Rocket Man Space Hamster

by ItspronouncedJulia



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Death of a pet, F/F, Family Feels, Grieving, Pet, space hamsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 03:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11865591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItspronouncedJulia/pseuds/ItspronouncedJulia
Summary: The man, the myth, the mascot.





	1. Death

“When do you plan on cleaning Rocket Man Space Hamster’s cage?” Suvi demanded as she slide under the covers on her side of the bed. Normally Sara enjoyed it when her wife got into bed with her but right now she would rather go out and face a whole horde of kett then have this conversation. For the past week Suvi has been nagging her about cleaning out that damn hamster’s cage and Sara has been giving her the same answer.

“It’s Samantha pet therefore it’s Samantha’s responsibility.” It was so simple to Sara and she couldn’t quite understand why Suvi wasn’t understanding her point of view. When Sara was a child she wasn’t allowed many pets but there had been a time before her mother died when her father had allowed her and Scott to have pet gerbils. Sara couldn’t remember much about the little rodents but she did remember the awful smell that came from a weeks worth of unchanged litter and she certainly remembered scrubbing those cages down until her father was pleased.

“I understand that Sara but Samantha is only five years old.” Suvi said. “Which means the responsibility of cleaning the cage falls on us.”

“And by us of course you mean me.” Suvi reached forward and gave Sara an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

“We made a deal you do all the gross stuff and I do all the rock stuff.” Sara frowned and watched as Suvi grabbed one the many datapads she kept on her nightstand. Sara figured she had about thirty seconds to get her closing argument in before Suvi tuned her out.

“I don’t recall ever agreeing to that!” Sara said perhaps a little louder than what was called for. “You just made that up.”

“Why are you yelling?” And thus concluded the entire conversation. If Sara attempted to barrel on with her point Suvi would only fixate on Sara raising her voice well Sara tried to actually continue their conversation. Which would just bring it to a place where it really didn’t need to go.

“All I’m saying is we never agreed on that.” Sara mumbled turning to look at something other than Suvi.

“It was an unspoken agreement.” Suvi said calmly. “Just like it was an unspoken agreement that when you caught Rocket Man Space Hamster and gave him to our child as a present that you would be cleaning his cage.”

“You're just making that up you understand that right?” Sara said trying not to blow her top at Suvi’s flawed logic. “There was never any unsaid anything.”

“I can make anything I want up I’m your wife which means I’m always right.” Suvi hummed leaning forward and giving Sara a soft kiss on the cheek. “Now please stop being so pigheaded and clean that hamsters cage, I really can’t take the smell anymore.” Sighing heavily Sara tossed the blankets off her and got out of bed.

“I’m doing this under protest.” As if that would make the situation any better. It was close to midnight and here she was cleaning out a filthy cage instead of getting some well deserved rest. “You know technically I’m your boss.” Suvi let out a very unlady like snort not bothering to look up from her datapad.

“I was wondering how long it would take before you pulled that one out.” She said scrolling through some of the text she had already read. “I figured for sure that you would rub that in before you actually got out of bed.”

“Well to be fair I only just thought of it.” Sara grunted as she moved to the cabinets where they kept all the things for Rocket Man Space Hamster including the cleaning supplies for his cage.

“I wish we didn’t have to go through this every time his cage needs to be cleaned.” Suvi said it as more of an afterthought but Sara could tell there was a hint of exhaustion in her tone. They didn’t fight often but when they did it always almost involved the hamster or how to handle something with Sam.

“I agree.” Was all Sara offered feeling conflicted. Sara hated backing down to Suvi just to avoid furthering the argument. She had never believed in not challenging Suvi just to make her more comfortable. Sara wasn’t afraid to fight with her wife as long as it was something she truly believed it. And right now she she truly believed that they weren’t setting a great example for their child by doing all the work for Sam when it came to taking care of her pet.

All that being said it was still midnight, Sara still was going to clean this stupid cage, and right now it just didn't seem worth fighting about. 

“I hate being a married adult.”

“You mean you hate conceding to me in order to avoid a petty argument.” Suvi said with that small silly smile that had a knack for chipping away at tension.

“Yes and you know I’ve noticed that it’s always me conceding to you.”

“Well of course isn’t that just the natural order of things?” Suvi asked with such sincerity that Sara almost forgot about the tone of their argument. “I am your wife therefore I am always right.”

“I’m your wife you know I can be right sometimes.” Sara grumbled shuffling towards Rocket Man Space Hamster's cage.

“You certainly have the potential don’t you?” Sara couldn’t help but laugh at that as she moved across the room.

“Keep talking shit Suvi.”

“Is that a threat?” Suvi asked her eyes twinkling as she watched her pathfinder open the hamster's cage. She expected Sara to come back with a quick response but instead she only got silence in return.

“Honey?”

“Shit babe you were right.” Normally Suvi would have broken out ‘of course I was’ or if she was really feeling nostalgic she might have hit Sara with an ‘I told you so’ but the tone in Sara’s voice stopped her from doing either.

“What's wrong?” Suvi asked slipping out of bed and moving towards Sara and Rocket Man Space Hamster. Sara said nothing and just waited for Suvi to see the situation on their hands for herself.

“Oh no.” Suvi said sadly looking down at Sammy’s little pet. Rocket Man Space Hamster was curled up in a tight ball unmoving. “When did he pass away?”

“I dunno but it couldn’t have been too long ago.” Sara said reaching down and scooping the hamster up in her hands. He was dead alright stiff as a board. “What are we going to tell Samantha? What are we even going to do with him? We’re currently orbiting Kadara we can’t bury him down there.”

“Of course that’s not place for our esteemed team mascot.” Suvi said softly her mind quickly jumping to Samantha. She would be completely crushed when they told her. Sammy loved that little hamster even if she never cleaned the cage. Or fed him. Or gave him fresh water. Still she was always up for playing with him and had proclaimed him the face of the Pathfinder Team when Sara had caught him.

“God the only time Samantha had ever came close to having to deal with death was that time that Zap short circuited.” Sara sighed remembering how hard Samantha had sobbed when the remnant bot wouldn’t turn back on convinced he was lost to them forever.

“Even after Peebee fixed him and he turned back on she was still so upset.” Suvi added poking Rocket Man Space Hamster as if to confirm his death. “How in the world are we going to tell her?”

“I’m not sure but let’s tell her together.” On this the two agreed


	2. Grief

“If you weren’t a robot I think you would be a fan of cheese.” Suvi and Sara exchanged a pained looked as they walked into the galley. Samantha was sitting on top of the counter as she chatted away with Zap. She was still in her night clothes and was holding a large block of cheese in her hands.

Beside her Vetra was making coffee and Peebee and Liam were sitting at the kitchen table arguing with each other about something that happened in Kadara Port. Neither Sara or Suvi paid much mind to them and focused on their daughter.

“Morning love birds.” Vetra offered smiling softly as she handed Sara a cup of coffee. “Gotta big day today.” She mentioned but Sara couldn’t recall what she was referring to. Almost every day was a big day for them but any stand out task they had to do was lost in Sara’s thoughts of Samantha.

Last night Suvi and Sara stayed up until the early hours of the morning trying to figure out a way to break the news to their child. It was clear that there was no easy way to do it but well Suvi wanted to ease into it Sara thought ripping off the bandaid would be better. They still hadn’t come to an agreement so Sara just assumed they were about to wing breaking in the bad news.

Even in death Rocket Man Space Hamster was causing the Ryder’s material issues.

“We’re bounty hunting today!” Samantha exclaimed the moment she realized her parents had walked into the room. Above her Zap spun around and made a series of beeps that sounded awfully happy if a robot could sound happy.

“No mama is going bounty hunting today.” Suvi corrected seriously. “You…” She trailed off unsure of how to finish that sentence.

“Am tagging along?” Sammy giggled.

“I don’t think so.” Vetra said musing the child’s hair.

“I dunno if Samantha is anything like her mother she might be an asset to the team.” Peebee said in a tone that was far to serious for Suvi’s liking.

“Hear that mommy I’m strong like you.” Sam said her eyes turning to Suvi and as if to drive the point home she began to flex her arms.

“You mean like your mama.” Suvi said her anger quickly melting at her child’s cute little display.

“No I mean like you!” They all laughed at this and when they managed to calm down Sara scooped Sam up in her arms and kissed her softly on the cheek. “Come on you want to go to the bridge?” Sam nodded enthusiastically and giggled as they climbed the ladder to the control room. When the doors slide open Sammy began to wiggle in Sara’s grip. The moment Sara set her down the little one rocketed off towards Suvi’s chair and climbed onto it.

“We’re in orbit!” Sammy shouted parroting her mother as she pretended to mess around with the console. “Anomaly detected!”

“Hey, hey don’t do to good of a job you might replace me.” Suvi said moving over to her daughter and bending down so she was eye to eye with her. “Your mother and I brought you up here in order to speak to you.” Sam stayed quiet as she turned to look at Suvi her eyes widening a little bit as worry started to set in.  

“The thing is last night Rocket Man Space Hamster passed away.” Sara said quickly deciding to go with her method over Suvi’s. An awful silence fell over the room as Sam absorbed the information looking back and forth between Suvi and Sara as if trying to decide whether they were telling the truth or not.

Moments, that felt more like hours, passed before Sam finally began to sob.

Sara almost wished for that awful silence back. Reaching forward Suvi scooped Sam into her arms and began to whisper gentle words to her. About death and nature and how it happened to the best of them all. Sara remained silent and wondered briefly if she should have listened to Suvi about easing into it.

The feeling passed quickly as she realized there would have been no easy way to do this. No better way to tell Sam about poor Rocket Man Space Hamster. The result would have been the same either way.

“It’s going to be okay.” Sara promised as she reached forward and began to rub small circles along Samantha’s back.

 

“He was a hamster.” Sara groaned sinking down onto Liam’s beaten up couch feeling very sad and a little foolish. “After everything I shouldn’t be this upset over a hamster.” Well Suvi and Sara had been comforting Sam Kallo had come into the bridge to start his shift. After explaining the situation to him Kallo had left to give them privacy and of course informed the whole ship of what was happening.

To their credit everyone had given Sara, Suvi, and Sam about five minutes before coming up to the bridge to attempt to comfort Sam in some way. It was sweet but at the same time Sara had wished they had given the three of them more space to grieve by themselves.

She supposed that’s when she had become slightly embarrassed. Well it made sense for Sam, a five year old, to be sobbing over the death of her hamster it probably looked pretty stupid for the human pathfinder and her wife to be crying over said hamster as well.

Sara stayed until Drack had come in to see what the whole commotion was about apparently missing Kallo’s memo. Not wanting to look like a fool in front of the krogan Sara slipped out of the room and down to Liam’s. Drack had followed her silently leaving Sara to only guess what he had to say.

“It’s not about the hamster kid,” he grunted leaning up against one of the storage containers. “It’s about the kid.”

“Yeah.” Sara said softly and suddenly everything she was feeling at the moment clicked. “Yeah it is.” She muttered. Drack’s statement required no further explanation but he provided her with one anyway.

“No one likes to see their kids in pain.” He said simply before turning around and leaving. Sometimes Sara forgot that Drack was a parent as well and had a vast knowledge of raising a child.

Pushing herself up Sara headed back to where Suvi and Sam were.

 


	3. Goodbye

“I thought you two would still be in the bridge.” Sara said as she walked into Suvi and hers bedroom. Suvi was sitting on the edge of the bed with Sammy in her lap. If it was possible Sam was crying harder than she had been this morning when Sara had first broke the news to her. It only took Sara a second to realize why. Sam was holding Rocket Man Space Hamster close to her chest as she softly stroked his fur.

“Sam wanted to see him.” Suvi sniffed. Her arms were wrapped around Sam’s belly and Suvi's chin was resting on top of her head.

“I don’t understand.” Sam whimpered. “He seemed fine yesterday.”

“I know honey but sometimes things like this just happen.” Suvi said softly. “It was Rocket Man Space Hamster’s time.”

“It’s not fair.” Sam added weakly. “He was a good hamster.”

“Even good hamsters have to die.” Sara said walking over and taking a seat in front of Suvi and Sam.

“I’m sorry this happened so soon but look at it like this Rocket Man Space Hamster is in a better place as we speak.” Suvi said placing a gentle kiss on Sam’s cheek.

“You mean he’s in heaven?”

“Yes, space hamster heaven.” Sara said leaning back on her hands. “It’s much better than normal hamster heaven twice as many hamster wheels and a better view of the stars.” This pulled a soft laugh from Suvi but Samantha was very serious as she spoke.

“That sounds nice.”

“Yeah.” Suvi agreed.

“It really does.” Sara said.

 

“Rocket Man Space Hamster was a symbol of Andromeda’s finest pathfinder team.” Cora said catching Sara as she exited her bedroom. “I think he deserves a proper space burial.” Sara came to a stop and for the first time today found herself smiling without a hint of sadness.

“I like that idea.” She said eagerly. “I’ll run it by Suvi and Sam of course but why don’t you gather everyone to the bridge well we prepare.”

 

Sara and Cora took the small container that Suvi and Sam had put Rocket Man in and placed him right outside the airlock door. Sara had watched as Suvi and Sam carefully wrapped Rocket Man in a clean washcloth and pack him in with his favorite toy and treats before heading up to the bridge to meet everyone else.

Moving out of the airlock they made sure the door was sealed tight before joining the rest of the team. Kallo had pulled up a small monitor that showed the cameras in the airlock pointing at Rocket Man Space Hamster’s makeshift coffin.

“Any last words before we send him off?” Kallo asked his finger hovering over the button that would open the doors to space.

“I have to say I don’t quite understand all this commotion over a small rodent.” Jaal said. “But he must have been one hell of a creature to warrant it.” He said thoughtfully.

“That he was Jaal.” Sara laughed exchanging a small smile with her wife.

“Is that all?” Kallo asked.

“No.” Sam said as she moved closer to look at the monitor. “I’m going to really miss you Rocket Man Space Hamster, you were my best friend.” Sam looked over to Kallo and gave him a small nod. Nodding back Kallo pressed down the button and they all watched as Rocket Man Space Hamster got sucked out into space.

“I hope he sees all the stars from where he is.” Sam said as Sara came up behind her and took her in her arms.

“I think he will.” Sara smiled giving her child a small kiss on the nose. They both watched the monitor just a little while longer.


End file.
